About Me

I am a woman of a certain age! A long-time wife, mother of teenagers and daughter of a dominant, somewhat possessive woman. I work in PR and I used to be happy and content. But recently something has changed and I feel like I'm losing control. I want to break free but don't really know from what or why. I think I need therapy but am fighting against that and writing this blog is an attempt to record my behaviour and make sense of my feelings so that maybe I can claim back some control.
I am essentially a good person but as I have tried to write honestly here, that may not be what comes across!

Wednesday, 8 July 2009

Fame

A few weeks ago one of the Sunday supplements featured quite a famous actress on their "A Day In The Life" page. I read it with interest because effectively .... I wrote it !

She had agreed with her agent that she would make herself available for the interview but when the magazine called her she couldn't face talking "so early in the morning" (I think it was about ten!) so she asked if they could send her the questions and she would then put something together and email it back to them. I think that's probably fairly standard practise as they didn't argue with her. Mind you, they wouldn't, as she can be quite formidable!

Anyway, she then rang me out of the blue and asked if I would "come round, dahling, because I'm sure you can help me with this wretched thing" ! I was quite surprised as even though I have met her on a number of occasions at various events where she always tells me she thinks I am "delightful company" and even though she has invited me to a couple of her soirees, and even though she has my number, she doesn't usually call me up.

Nevertheless, I went round and she was very entertaining. We sat in her beautiful country garden on the patio and I went through the list with her, writing down what she said and we came up with her "day" which I then typed out and emailed back to the magazine. She was most grateful but I still don't really know why she picked me to help her out. I was very flattered though and we then had a lovely afternoon. She told me about her colourful life including a few revelations about her relationship with her late husband and she also told me about a few issues that had been bothering her recently.

I'm always amazed that people choose to open up to me and I don’t know why. Maybe it's because I listen well. I think after talking to me, people feel their problems are more manageable even though I hardly say anything. I just offer lots of sympathy and some two-penny advice. At the end of the day, people just want someone to listen. I know I do .....but there isn't anyone.

Anyway, she sent me flowers the next day with a message telling me again how "delightful" I was and how we must get together soon. Needless to say I haven't heard from her since but it doesn't matter - I think she's fab.

I found the list of questions at the bottom of my bag this morning:

- when and how do you wake up- what's the first thing you see when you draw the curtains- what do you have for breakfast- what do you usually do in the morning- explain what job you have and the work you do through the day- what do you do at lunchtime- do you answer fan mail or personal emails or keep a diary or a blog or are you on any networking sites and do you twitter- when do you see family- does music feature in any part of your day- what do you do for dinner- how do you spend a typical evening- do you have any hobbies that take time in your day, gardening, reading, etc- when do you go to bed- what are usually your last thoughts- do you sleep well